Year 2, Winter, Second Month, Second Week.

The Duchess' expression changed back to graceful and solemn as the liveliness in the room also returned.

“I would ask two favors from Your Grace… If Thundery enters the Royal Parliament, I want her to side with my group in a motion against the Water Duchess. And when we move to eliminate the death Mage, I want to Your Grace to block the Duchess and her water servant. Your Grace could use the Dynasty intervention and the Duchess possible involvement as an excuse.”

The first request would be easily accomplished, although Thundery would risk being target by the Water Duchess supporters, but moving against another Warden directly wasn’t acceptable.

“Your Grace, moving against another Warden would be…”

“It’s Your Grace’s choice… Besides, I would offer Your Grace two other gifts to show my gratitude. I would make sure Thundery is selected and becomes a Royal, and I would give you a HQ healing elixir.”

Both gifts were priceless. However, they weren’t that useful to him. First, if Thundery was healed, she already had a very good chance of passing the Royal selection without the Duchess interference. As for the elixir, Windsor reached the apex of magic in the Kingdom, few could actually pose a threat to his life. The last time he faced a life-threatening situation, he was still a young Mage. Of course, the elixir was a priceless item, but not enough to move him against another Warden.

“I’m sorry Your Grace… Even for Thundery and these priceless gifts, I can’t break the peace between two regions…”

“I see… However, I would urge Your Grace to think about it for a little longer, and while Your Grace does that, take the elixir with you…”

Windsor was very confused about the Duchess’ tactics, does she think he would change his mind or be enticed by keeping the elixir? Or maybe, she was counting on something else. The trace of panic that flashed through Windsor’s expression couldn’t be hidden. The Duchess' response was a strange smile, which only increased his fear that something else was happening.

“Your Grace, I will politely excuse myself as something urgent appeared. I will hold to Your Grace’s gift for a little longer and think better about the proposal. Thank Your Grace for receiving me.”

Vivian observed as Windsor hastily left the room and smiled.

“The thrill of being young and naive…”

***

The distance between the Capital of Elements and the Wind Capital was approximately 350 kilometers. A normal merchant would take two weeks in the journey while a mounted traveler could cover the distance in five days. However, Windsor was neither, using his gale horse, a wind servant summoned by high-density wind energy and his wind intent, he swept through the distance in one day.

Since this wasn’t an official journey, Windsor didn’t pass the city gate and flew directly to the Sky Palace. Once he neared the city, he already felt something was wrong, but now that he got close to the Palace he could confirm it. Only high-level nobility knew about the domain powers granted by the elemental everlasting spells. The magnificent demonstration of the elemental Mages’ power besides creating the four regions also granted some level of authority to the Warden of the region. Which translated into three perks, increasing their affinity, strengthen their connection with the element and empowering their spells.

Affinity basically determines how much spiritual energy the Mage has to use to manipulate the element, thus controlling how many spells they can cast. For example, inside of the wind throne where his authority was stronger, the Wind Lord would be able to cast practically an unlimited number of spells. Similarly, the connection with the element dictates the casting time and the complexity level of spells, again, in the throne room the Warden would be able to cast any spell as long as he knew how. Last, the authority would empower the Warden’s spells making them many times stronger, this was why nobody would challenge a Warden inside their Palace.

Although Windsor didn’t felt the connection with the everlasting spell, he didn’t panic, after all, the access to the domain powers wasn’t something easily received. However, in his eyes, the fury was evident, not only because someone was trying to betray him, but also because two parties outside of his region knew about it before him. The absence of attendants in the Palace corridors only confirmed his suspicions, but nothing would prevent him from entering the throne room.

However, the scene that welcomed Windsor when he passed through the oddly opened doors was completely out of his expectations. With a quick search around the room, Windsor identified the Heads of four out of six great Houses of the Wind region apparently conducting a ritual he knew too well, the coronation of a wind Warden. In the center of the altar, holding the wind scepter and wearing the elemental necklace, Whispert seemed to be finishing the vows that would give him the title of Warden.

The rules to sit on the wind throne were very straightforward, the Mage only had to get the vows from four out of the six original Houses’ Heads, hold the wind heirlooms and pass the test of the everlasting spell that checked if the Mage is powerful enough.

Windsor couldn’t understand what was happening, there were too many rules that would prevent someone from trying to take his place. First, how did Whispert get the vows from the Heads, many years ago the same Lords vowed to uphold his position until he died or abdicated. And how did he get the heirlooms? The scepter was possible since it couldn’t be taken outside the Palace but how about the elemental necklace? It never left Windsor’s neck.

But then, he checked the jewel that was always around his neck, it looked normal until Windsor tried to interact with it. It wasn’t the elemental necklace. It was a perfect copy that even used a HQ wind crystal, Windsor was sure the one on his necklace wasn’t the original. How? The necklace never left his neck since the day he became the Wind Lord. He only left the Palace because he was sure nobody could take his place without killing him.